Removable catheter needle

ABSTRACT

A hollow catheter needle which is split in half longitudinally and the two mating halves are secured together with heat shrinkable material which is easily cut by a sharp instrument such as a scapel and removed so that the two halves of the needle can be removed from around a flexible tubular catheter having an enlarged fitting on one end after the other end of the catheter has been threaded through the hollow needle and is properly positioned in the patient.

United States Patent Hassinger [451 July 18, 1972 REMOVABLE CATHETER NEEDLE [72] Inventor: Robert J. l-lassinger, King of Prussia, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Extracorporeal Medical Specialties, Inc.

[22] Filed: Aug. 4, 1969 [21]. Appl. No.: 847,331

[52] U.S. Cl. ..l28/214.4, 128/221 [51] Int. Cl ..A61m 05/00, A61m 05/32 [58] Field of Search ..128/2l4.4, 221, 348; 206/65 S,

206/229 DIG. 12

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,037,620 6/1962 Douty .....206/65 S 3,334,737 8/1967 Dreyfus ..206/65 S 3,330,278 7/1967 Santomieri .128/214 4 3,359,978 12/1967 Smith ..l28/2l4.4 3,382,872 5/1968 Rubin.... ..l28/214.4

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,483,989 5/1967 France ..l28/214.4

Primary Examiner-Dalton L. Truluck Attorney-Connolly and Hutz ABSTRACT A hollow catheter needle which is split in half longitudinally and the two mating halves are secured together with heat shrinkable material which is easily cut by a sharp instrument such as a scapel and removed so that the two halves of the needle can be removed from around a flexible tubular catheter having an enlarged fitting on one end after the other end of the catheter has been threaded through the hollow needle and is properly positioned in the patient.

4 claim, 4 Drawing figures REMOVABLE CA'I'HEIER NEEDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The claimed invention relates to surgical instruments, and more particularly to hollow needles of the type used for positioning a catheter in a patient for one purpose or another, such as intra-venous feeding.

Prior to the present invention, hollow needles have been utilized in the medical and surgical fields to locate flexible tubular catheters in animal or human patients. In intravenous feeding, to use an example, it has long been the practice to insert a hollow needle, approximately two inches long, into the patients vein or vessel anteriorily at an acute angle. The needle is advanced a few mm. to insure that the entire bevelled tip of the needle is within the vessel lumen. A flexible tubular catheter is then inserted into the exposed end of the needle and threaded through the needles full length. With the catheter tip thus in the vessel lumen, the hollow needle has served its purpose and is withdrawn back along the catheter until the needle is outside the patient, leaving the end of the catheter properly in place. The other end of the catheter is designed to be attached to a source of fluid to be introduced to the patient.

The problem heretofore encountered is proper disposition of the needle after it has performed its function and while the intra-venous feeding or other operation takes place, which may last a considerable length of time. One prior solution has been to simply slide the needle back along and off the exposed end of the tubular catheter and remove it, and then attach the free end of the catheter to appropriate mechanical fittings which may in turn be secured to the container or other source of material to be introduced to the patient. This solution is not satisfactory, however, because the task of securing the fitting to the free end of the catheter utilizes valuable time of the medical staff which in some cases the patient can ill-afford and involves relatively rigorous manipulation of the fi'ee end of the catheter which may dislodge the other end from its proper location in the patient.

To eliminate the necessity of attaching a fitting to the free end of the catheter after the other end has been inserted in the patient and the needle removed over the free end, medical supply houses have been supplying catheters with appropriate fittings integrally attached to one end. Such catheters save valuable time and eliminate many problems and have thus found favor with the medical profession, but they have created an additional problem. With the enlarged fitting on the end of the catheter, it is impossible to slide the hollow needle off the free end of the catheter once the needle is withdrawn from the patient. As a compromise, the medical staff in such instances slides the needle back along the catheter until the rear end of the needle is adjacent the enlarged fitting on the catheter, and attaches the rear end of the needle to the fitting and/or wraps tape around the sharp end of the needle and the catheter. The purpose of the tape is to prevent the needle from inadvertantly sliding back along the catheter and injuring the patient, and to prevent the catheter from pulling sideways abruptly at the sharp end of the needle, which could cut the catheter and destroy the operation.

The latter problem is intensified by the increased usage of catheters made of medical grade silicon rubber, which has many advantages but is far more susceptible to acute rupture by the sharp bevelled end of the needle than are catheters made of polyethylene, nylon and the like which found favor previously.

Thus, the problem heretofore unsolved by the prior art is the provision of a hollow surgical needle which can be used to insert in a patient one end of a catheter having an enlarged fitting integrally associated with the other end and can thereafter be removed from the catheter so that it will not damage the catheter or the patient.

SUMMARY or THE INVENTION This invention provides a surgical needle having a hollow shaft, one end of which is designed for insertion to locate one end of an elongated tube or catheter threaded through the hollow shaft from the other end, the needle being separable longitudinally into separate segments for lateral removal from the catheter afier the one end of the catheter is located in place. The needle according to a presently preferred form of the present invention comprises at least two separate segments which mate together into an operable structure and also separate completely from each other in lateral fashion, the two separate segments mating together along a flat plane in which the longitudinal axis of the needle also lies. The needle is surrounded by at least one band of material to secure the separate segments together into an operable structure. Preferably, the band of material may be of the type which is heat shrunk into tight engagement with the needle, and which after the needle is withdrawn along the catheter until it is outside the patient may be easily cut longitudinally by a sharp instrument such as a scalpel for disengagement with the needle to permit the separate segments of the needle to be removed laterally from the catheter. This invention also contemplates a surgical package comprising a needle as aforesaid in combination with a catheter consisting of a tube of, for instance, medical grade silicone rubber with an enlarged fitting integrally associated with one end of the tube, and an improved method of inserting such a catheter into a patient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAl/VINGS Numerous advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a reading of the detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which:

FIG. I is a view of the removable needle according to this invention with the bevelled tip inserted in a patient and one end of an elongated flexible catheter about to be inserted in the other end of the needle;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the catheter, with an enlarged mechanical fitting integrally associated with the free end, threaded through the needle and located in the patient, the needle having been withdrawn back along the catheter until it is outside the patient;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the two separate segments of the needle laterally removed from the catheter, and the bands of heat shrinkable material which were first cut longitudinally and removed from the needle; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the needle according to this invention with parts of the disengageable bands broken away for purposes of clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring in more particularity to the drawings, a surgical needle 10 of this invention has a hollow tubular shaft 12 one end of which is sharpened by being bevelled as at 14. The other end of the hollow shaft 12 includes an enlarged laterally protruding shoulder portion 16 integrally associated with the hollow shaft.

The needle is divisible into at least two separate segments which mate together along a common flat plane, preferably the plane 18 in which the longitudinal axis of the needle also lies. When the two halves of the needle are mated together, the hollow central core 20 of the needle is designed and dimensioned to have a tubular catheter inserted therethrough.

To secure the two segments of the needle together into an integral, operable structure for inserting in a patient, disengageable means 22 are connected to secure the separate segments together when engaged and to permit complete separation of the segments when disengaged. One form of such disengageable means comprises at least one band 22 of material laterally surrounding and engaging the needle, the band of material being easily disengaged from the needle. According to the presently preferred form of the invention, a band of heat shrinkablematerial 24 hasbeen placed around the shaft portion 12 of the needle, the forward edge of which may be bevelled as at 25, and two larger bands 26, 28 have been placed around the enlarged laterally protruding portions 16 of the needle. Upon application of heat for a short period of time, the heat shrinkable material contracts to tightly engage the needle and provide three separate bands 24, 26 and 28 which secure the two halves of the needle together into a unitary, operable structure. This structure may be sterilized and/or autoclaved.

The heat shrinkable material, after the needle has served its purpose and been withdrawn from the patient along the catheter, is easily cut longitudinally with a scalpel 30 or other sharp instrument, and the bands 24, 26 and 28 removed from the needle to permit the separate segments of the needle to be laterally removed from the catheter. At this point, the cut bands of heat shrinkable material are discarded, and the two segments of the needle may be discarded or may be preserved for re-use after new bands of material have been shrunk therearound.

Useful in conjunction with a needle constructed according to the foregoing is a catheter 32 comprising an elongated flexible tube 34 having one end 36 designed to be threaded through the hollow core 20 of the needle and inserted in a patient. The other end of the catheter tube 34 has an enlarged mechanical fitting 38 integrally associated therewith. The fitting is designed for attachment to standard containers or other sources of material to be introduced into the patient. Preferably, the tubing 34 is made of medical grade silicon rubber.

For use by the medical profession, a flexible tubular catheter 32, preferably of medical grade silicon rubber, having an enlarged fitting 38 integrally associated with one end is provided in combination with a needle 10 having a shaft with a hollow central core properly dimensioned to longitudinally receive the other end 36 of the catheter which does not have the fitting associated with it. By supplying such a combination to the profession, the problem of the medical staff finding a catheter and a needle which are properly matched dimensionally to each other is eliminated.

Use of the removable catheter needle, and of a package comprising the catheter-with-fitting in combination with the removable needle described above, is apparent from the foregoing, and makes possible a new method of inserting one end of a flexible tubular catheter into a patient. This method comprises the steps of inserting one end of the hollow needle into the patient, taking a catheter having an enlarged fitting integrally associated with one end, threading the other end of the catheter through the hollow needle and locating it in place in the patient, sliding the needle back along the catheter without disturbing the located end of the catheter until the needle is out of the patient, and then separating the needle into separate segments and removing them laterally from the catheter, the needle being separated into separate segments by longitudinally cutting the disengageable means such as the bands of heat shrunk material with a sharp instrument such as a scalpel to permit the separate segments of the needle to come apart for removal from the catheter.

There has thus been disclosed an invention in a surgical nee- 'dle which is separable longitudinally into separate segments, a

surgical package comprising such a needle in combination with a flexible tubular catheter having an enlarged fitting von one end, and a method of inserting such a catheter into a patient and thereafter removing the needle from the catheter.

While the above described embodiment constitutes the presently preferred mode of practicing this invention, other embodiments and equivalents are clearly withinthe scope of the actual invention, which is claimed as:

l. A surgical needle for performing medical operations having one end bevel sharpened for insertion in a patient and having at the other end an enlarged laterally protruding portion, an elongated hollow shaft portion therebetween comprising separate segments which mate together into an operable structure and also separate completely from each other in lateral fashion, at least one band laterally surrounding and extending axially along at least part of the shafi portion, the band being in tight engagement with the shaft portion and operating to secure the separate segments thereof together into an operable structure, the band being of a heat shrinkable material, the

material being easily removable for disengaging from the surgical needle to permit complete separation of the segments from each other in lateral fashion.

2. A surgical needle as in claim 1 wherein the edge of the band nearest the sharpened end of the needle is bevelled.

3. A surgical needle as in claim 1 wherein the shaft portion is cylindrical and comprises two separate segments which mate together in a flat plane in-which the longitudinal axis of the cylinder lies.

4. A surgical needle as in claim 3 wherein the enlarged laterally protruding portion comprises two separate segments, each integrally associated with one of the separate segments of the hollow shaft portion, a second band of heat shrinkable material laterally surrounding the enlarged laterally protruding portion and in tight engagement therewith to secure the separate segments thereof together, the second band also being easily removable for disengaging from the surgical needle. 

1. A surgical needle for performing medical operations having one end bevel sharpened for insertion in a patient and having at the other end an enlarged laterally protruding portion, an elongated hollow shaft portion therebetween comprising separate segments which mate together into an operable structure and also separate completely from each other in lateral fashion, at least one band laterally surrounding and extending axially along at least part of the shaft portion, the band being in tight engagement with the shaft portion and operating to secure the separate segments thereof together into an operable structure, the band being of a heat shrinkable material, the material being easily removable for disengaging from the surgical needle to permit complete separation of the segments from each other in lateral fashion.
 2. A surgical needle as in claim 1 wherein the edge of the band nearest the sharpened end of the needle is bevelled.
 3. A surgical needle as in claim 1 wherein the shaft portion is cylindrical and comprises two separate segments which mate together in a flat plane in which the longitudinal axis of the cylinder lies.
 4. A surgical needle as in claim 3 wherein the enlarged laterally protruding portion comprises two separate segments, each integrally associated with one of the separate segments of the hollow shaft portion, a second band of heat shrinkable material laterally surrounding the enlarged laterally protruding portion and in tight engagement therewith to secure the separate segments thereof together, the second band also being easily removable for disengaging from the surgical needle. 